{"id":318249,"date":"2017-07-21T00:01:49","date_gmt":"2017-07-20T23:01:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/britain-wanted-to-threaten-saddams-iraq-with-chemical-weapons\/"},"modified":"2017-07-21T00:01:49","modified_gmt":"2017-07-20T23:01:49","slug":"britain-wanted-to-threaten-saddams-iraq-with-chemical-weapons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/britain-wanted-to-threaten-saddams-iraq-with-chemical-weapons\/","title":{"rendered":"Britain wanted to threaten Saddam\u2019s Iraq with chemical weapons"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Margaret Thatcher, Britain\u2019s former prime minister, wanted to threaten the deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein with chemical weapons before the Gulf War, documents show.<\/p>\n

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The newly-released papers show that Thatcher was keen to scare Saddam with the threat of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) after he invaded Kuwait in 1990.<\/p>\n

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Read more<\/p>\n


\n \"\u00a9\u00a0Paul
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The plan was eventually headed off by the US, in particular by then-Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, who later became a key architect of the 2003 Iraq War.<\/p>\n

The \u2018Iron Lady<\/em>\u2019 reportedly told then-US President George Bush Sr that faced with Saddam\u2019s aggression it was \u201cno time to go wobbly<\/em>\u201d as the Western powers postured for a war with Iraq.<\/p>\n

Records show that in a meeting in October 1990, amid fears that Saddam could use chemical weapons himself, Thatcher told Cheney: \u201cWe had to decide what our response would be. If we wished to deter a CW [chemical weapons] attack by threatening to retaliate in like manner, we must have CW weapons [sic] available.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Cheney responded that Bush had a \u201cparticular aversion to chemical weapons<\/em>\u201d and was disposed towards a \u201cmassive conventional response to a CW attack<\/em>\u201d rather than a like-for-like WMD battle.<\/p>\n

The exchanges, which were not included in Thatcher\u2019s memoirs, show that her threat at the time to use nuclear weapons was a bluff.<\/p>\n

Cheney asked if she \u201ccould contemplate the use of nuclear weapons in a Gulf conflict.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe prime minister said she would be most reluctant to consider this, indeed she would rule it out, although nuclear weapons were always there as the ultimate deterrent.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n